Your neighborhood Smackdown recapper is here! The women were in the first hour of the show, as the second hour was focused on the male gauntlet match. Money in the Bank is over with and as always, some people are happy, some people are not, but it is safe to say that Carmella is the happiest woman on SmackDown right now.
The Princess of Staten Island was able to pull off a victory last Sunday at the MITB PPV. After Paige started off the show backstage announcing the male gauntlet match for the main event, Carmella’s music hits and the fabulous moon walker makes her way to the ring.
She starts her victory speech in perfect heel fashion. She starts by saying how as a child she had a self-confidence issue. She then pulls out the ”sike” and laughs saying that she has never had self-confidence issues. She gloats about her recent successes. She brings up that she won last years MITB match, and how she is now the SmackDown women’s champion. She reminds everyone (for the one-millionth time) that she beat Charlotte Flair twice, and now she has beaten Asuka. She stresses the fact that the best part is that she beat Asuka all by herself. Her gloat sessions were interrupted when Asuka’s music hits.
It was obvious the second “Asuka” walked out that it was indeed the returning James Ellsworth dressed up as Asuka. After Ellsworth gets into the ring and removes the Asuka mask, just as he did on Sunday night, he mocked Asuka by saying that nobody was ready for him, especially the Empress herself. Ellsworth was naming off a list of women that Carmella was better than. In that list he mentioned Hall of Famers Lita and Trish Stratus. He said he was back to serve the greatest woman in history, his princess, Carmella. Asuka’s music hits again, and she comes running down to the ring (which is normally not like her) to confront Ellsworth and Carmella.
WWE posted on their Instagram about how Ellsworth was saying that Carmella was better than Beyonce:
Ellsworth and Asuka exchange words back and forth up until Asuka kicks him in the midsection and knocks him to the mat. Carmella then takes that opportunity to deliver a kick to Asuka’s face. Carmella then grabs her title, grabs Ellsworth, and heads up the ramp. Both Carmella and Ellsworth celebrate getting the upper hand as Asuka holds her face in the ring after the kick that was delivered.
After the Carmella/Asuka segment came the woman’s match of the night. Becky Lynch was set to take on Billie Kay in a one on one matchup. Billie Kay made her way to the ring first with her IIconics partner, Peyton Royce. Kay and Royce mock Lynch from what she said last week. Lynch made a statement that she was going to stop saying that she “was” and that she was going to start saying “I am”. Royce imitates Lynch by saying the same thing but ends it with “I am a loser”. She goes on to say that Lynch will not amount to anything and that she is better off being Charlotte Flair’s troll of a sidekick.
The match itself was mainly in Lynch’s favor as she had the offense for most of the match. She was able to hit the Bexploder but then was distracted by Royce when she went up to the top rope. The distraction by Royce was not enough to take Lynch off of her offense. Lynch leaped off the turnbuckle and took down Royce to eliminate her from the equation. Lynch was able to get Kay in a Dis-Arm-Her for a submission victory.
In a post-match interview, Lynch reflects on being blindsided at MITB but says she is determined to climb back to Women’s Title scene.
A Twitter battle was initiated by Flair on the IIconics and Lynch had something to say back to Kay:
I hope Peyton can carry your bags for after I damn near snapped your arm off https://t.co/aI4b3AvxTk
— Rebecca Quin (@BeckyLynchWWE) June 20, 2018
Elsewhere, an impatient Andrade “Cien” Alams and business associate Zelina Vega continue to be hungry for some competition from the SmackDown roster. They mock Sin Cara for being sidelined due to injury which caused their match to be scrapped. Despite this, Vega continues to pitch the WWE Universe that Almas is the future of SmackDown Live.
Thoughts:: Well, I don’t know if this Smackdown was a great one for the women if I am perfectly honest. With Extreme Rules less than a month away, I can’t help but wonder why they didn’t start setting the stage. I can assume that the Asuka and Carmella feud will continue, which I am not mad at. I am a little concerned with Ellsworth being back though. I don’t think he adds anything to Carmella as champion.
What concerns me is that there is really no direction for the IIconics. I love them, but besides making fun of everyone, they have no clear storyline or feud happening. I don’t know if they are trying to create an IIconics vs Becky/Charlotte feud perhaps? Also, the match seemed awkward. It didn’t showcase Billie’s abilities at all.
It was kind of a bummer that they did not have more than 5 women (plus Paige) on this weeks show. Do you want to know what really grinds my gears? Gauntlet matches. Another male gauntlet match dominates a show. I wouldn’t mind it so much as if when the women had a gauntlet match, it could be an hour also. I feel like the men’s gauntlet match, even though it was good, took a lot of time away from the women in a two-hour show.
I find it odd that Naomi and Lana weren’t on, even if it was a backstage segment. I would assume Charlotte took the night off because she still has personal issues to work out, but I am not sure?
What did everyone think of the show this week? What do we think the ladies have in store for the future shows leading up to Extreme Rules? Is anyone excited that Ellsworth is back? Sound off in the comments below!!!
